Started as the NCTE Assembly of Media Arts blog: the Assembly has transitioned to: The Media And Digital Literacies Collaborative. This blog is primarily aimed at those who teach English/Language Arts but who are also interested in the role of the media/technology in curriculum instruction.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

USA Today carries this AP news report: "Smart phones now have hundreds of applications meant to educate kids — from graphic calculators to animation programs that teach spelling and phonics. And while most public schools don't allow the devices because they're considered distractions — and sometimes portable cheating tools — some school districts have started to put the technology to use." Are cellphones the next pencil and paper? You can post a comment on Teacher Magazine's website.

A university professor writes on the National Teaching & Learning Forum: "simple, new technologies can greatly increase your students' engagement outside of the classroom and thus prepare them for real discussions (even in the very largest classes) by providing content and assessment before class time. The goal, in other words, is to use technology to free yourself from the need to "cover" the content in the classroom, and instead use class time to demonstrate the continued value of direct student to faculty interaction and discussion."

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Wall St. Journal reports that more money is coming to school districts to acquire technology and to provide professional development for teachers. "At the same time school districts around the nation are bracing for a round of severe belt-tightening as a result of strained state and local budgets, they’re also getting a significant bump in federal funding to make their classrooms more tech-savvy, which they hope will help improve student performance."

From the Ecology of Education web site: Last year, educational technology specialist Gina Hartman started looking at how school districts outside of St. Charles, Mo., addressed social media. She didn’t find many that had created guidelines on social media use, so she and several colleagues started a wiki on the topic.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Fabrice Florin of NewsTrust asks that I pass along this new resource: I thought you might be interested in hearing about a news literacy guide we just released on NewsTrust.net, our social news network devoted to good journalism. Think Like A Journalist, by Michael Bugeja, gives news consumers a quick introduction to core principles of journalism, with helpful tips on how to review a story on NewsTrust. This short guide is aimed at people with a general interest in news, but limited time to learn about news literacy. The full guide is up on our site: http://media.newstrust.net/guides

This news literacy guide also include an extensive list of educational resources, for teachers or individuals interested in learning more. We welcome your recommendations for other worthy sites:

Monday, July 20, 2009

USA Today reports: Colleges and universities across the country are taking notice, offering courses in programming iPhone applications to computer-related majors. The courses represent a new path of study for many colleges and universities recognizing the longevity of smartphones and social media, college professors say.

Monday, July 13, 2009

The March of Time newsreel series, produced from 1935 to 1967 by Time Inc., is now online in its entirely, courtesy of the HBO Archives. All films are free, but registration is required. They were first shown in movie theaters and on television and were more long-form than typical Hollywood-produced newsreels.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

A campaign has been launched to improve "news literacy" levels amongst America's citizens. The Lovejoy Journalism and News Literacy Blog aims to counteract spreading "news illiteracy", which is considered as the "real" and "hidden" threat to journalism and ultimately democracy in the current climate of proliferating news sources. The blog joins two other "news literacy" initiatives--which will be the subjects of a session at NCTE 2009 in Philadelphia.

The "Top 25" Web sites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The best practices guidelines from the PointSmart.ClickSafe (PS.CS) task force on online safety and literacy released July 8 put a heavy emphasis on education and a complaint/response procedure when problems arise. The story, in Broadcasting&Cable online, includes a link to the task force recommendations.

Monday, July 6, 2009

From eSchool news: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says schools and colleges should deliver course content to the cell phones that students use to talk and text every day. Some campus officials are listening, and classes via web-enabled cell phones could be mobile learning's next evolution.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

At the just concluded NECC 2009 conference 28 schools received awards and prizes in Sony Creative Software's second student digital video contest. The Technology in Motion content challenged high school and middle school students to produce a digital video that addressed this year's theme of "community of the future."

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Love the title of Howard Rheingold's latest blog entry. An excerpt: "The first thing we all need to know about information online is how to detect crap, a technical term I use for information tainted by ignorance, inept communication, or deliberate deception. Learning to be a critical consumer of Webinfo is not rocket science. It's not even algebra. Becoming acquainted with the fundamentals of web credibility testing is easier than learning the multiplication tables. The hard part, as always, is the exercise of flabby think-for-yourself muscles."